Same here - I just don't "need" a high end phone, but I would also like something a little eye catchy too.

At this stage of the game, a nice screen and 128Gb or so would suit me just fine. If that happens to come packaged in a sweet looking and sub $500 package, I'm willing to give it a shot.

128 is a ton over what I need, if Essential released a 32 or 64 version closer to 350 - 400 this would be a no brainer. ATM I've got my eyes on the Honor 8, a couple Xperias, and a Motorola or two. Most of these are below $400 and nearing $300.

So far, no real complaints. I would like to find a way to put the number of notifications on the program icon, might need a different launcher for that. The Bluetooth on this phone sends all the track information to my head unit, something I've missed for quite a while now. Last phone I had that did that was my Xperia Z3. My Note 5 didn't even do it. The LED flash on this phone is MUCH warmer than the flash on my 6s+, and brighter too. The back is a bit slippery, I'm going to put a skin on it. Got a screen protector coming today, liquid skin type. The edge to edge screen is nice to look at, but I'm glad it has the bezel at the bottom. I have issues with accidentally dragging the notification bar down at the top, if it was edge to edge on the bottom too I'd never be able to use the damned thing.

What stereo are you using, and how much track info are we talking about? My 5S since day one has shown Track, artist, album, and album art (IF plugged in). I'm running a Pioneer NEX 5100 nav unit and this is via bluetooth.

What stereo are you using, and how much track info are we talking about? My 5S since day one has shown Track, artist, album, and album art (IF plugged in). I'm running a Pioneer NEX 5100 nav unit and this is via bluetooth.

It's a JVC unit, no idea what model. It's not super new, but it's shown full track info including time played/total for every phone besides my Samsungs and my iPhone.

Could be a backwards compatibility issue, but that's still on Samsung and Apple if so

Kinda. Depending on the deck's capability tech may just have moved too far forward to keep up, JVC would need to update their end. I ran into this when I tried to use a 3rd gen iPod on a 2008 Pioneer stereo. Apple had swapped pins in their older connectors so hardware didn't work and Pioneer didn't have software that was that old. I was annoyed. Meanwhile I grabbed a new Nano a couple years back and that device worked properly with my 2008 era stereo.

Kinda. Depending on the deck's capability tech may just have moved too far forward to keep up, JVC would need to update their end. I ran into this when I tried to use a 3rd gen iPod on a 2008 Pioneer stereo. Apple had swapped pins in their older connectors so hardware didn't work and Pioneer didn't have software that was that old. I was annoyed. Meanwhile I grabbed a new Nano a couple years back and that device worked properly with my 2008 era stereo.

Pretty sure it's Bluetooth 2.1, but I can't think tech moved too far forward if it works on literally every other phone but Samsung and iPhone.

Pretty sure it's Bluetooth 2.1, but I can't think tech moved too far forward if it works on literally every other phone but Samsung and iPhone.

The iPhone surprises me more than Samsung. Everyone builds a device to revolve around Apple. My next line of interrogation would be what does the id tag look like? I'm not sure if I had my 5s with my old deck but with the newer Nano being plugged in (didn't have bluetooth on 2008 model) everything I had on the mp3 tag was there.

I don't use MP3's, I use Google Play Music, Spotify, iTunes, and podcast apps, and all of those send the data to the head unit with my Essential. Only iPhones work when plugged into the deck, but I don't care for that, I have Bluetooth for a reason lol.

I don't use MP3's, I use Google Play Music, Spotify, iTunes, and podcast apps, and all of those send the data to the head unit with my Essential. Only iPhones work when plugged into the deck, but I don't care for that, I have Bluetooth for a reason lol.

Odd that the Apple devices didn't display properly. 5S has displayed everything properly from an iTunes purchase. Google Play music I can see not working properly.

So some interesting things... The RAW shots are in a lot of ways better than the processed shots. Sort of washed out color-wise, but still a better starting point. I can't capture RAW from the Essential camera app, so this is from my Premium app.

Processed shots:

The neon red is off in the joycons shot. I figured that would be a good stress test. The dog pictures are way too dark and yellow.
Here's the RAW files converted to PNG:

I would seem having 2 different sensors, they would be choosing top notch components. It's either 1) they skimped on quality hardware; 2) they simply don't have the software skills to make a decent pic; 3) a combo of both.

I knew the camera quality was a knock against it in the first place, but I was hoping software fixes would improve.

I guess if you can use another app to take photos, that would be better. Or if and when Google opens up their camea api with 8.1, they could take advantage of that.

But for $449, I don't think there's a whole lot to complain about. It's still the best value in Android.

I know they have a small number of developers, so that might be a big part of it. The camera app I'm using now is much more flexible, I'll just keep using that. The stock camera app is way too dumbed down.

One of the things that I find funny is that the magnets for the 360 camera and future accessories make it so the phone sticks to anything magnetic. When I do laundry, if I put my phone on the drier I have to pry it off a bit. They're stronger than you would expect. I just set it down on my Samsung tablet (with one of those rubber folding covers with the magnetic strips) and it stuck to that That area can also pick up little bits of metal. I put a vinyl cover on the back, so I'm not too worried about scratching, but I can see how it would become a problem.

Everything that I had on my iPhone seems to be on Android, and is just as high of quality. The main thing I am liking more is having a fixed back button. Not having to figure out where that button is in every app is so much easier. I also got the # of notifications for apps in the launcher by installing Nova Launcher, the only tweak I've done so far. Works as well as it did on iOS. Overall really happy with my choice. My 6s+ is about to end on eBay, hopefully makes my reserve, if it does it paid for half of this phone.

This phone is extremely rugged. I don't have my case yet, just have a screen protector and vinyl back, and it has survived several drops face first. I'm not trying to test my luck, but last night I was getting out of my truck, went to slide my phone in my pocket and missed, phone fell straight down onto the asphalt, hit bottom left corner on the front face, and besides a minor scuff on the plasticity ring, no damage. The screen protector got a little wrinkled there and that's it. It's a plastic screen protector, not glass, so I'm pretty impressed. The bottom right and top tight have also taken a couple smaller drops in the same spot, onto my tile at the house, same result, only screen protector damage.

What are the shortcomings after a week or so of having it as your daily driver?

Camera is just a little on the slow side compared to my 6s+. I don't have any other dual camera experience to compare to, so no idea how it stacks up. Really, camera is the only shortcoming with this phone.